Yup, Meanest Defence in the AIL, Bruff 31, Rainey O.B. Nil

Sorry for the late post, I thought that my other Reporter might do the duty for me as he was taking down notes on Saturday but there ya go.

From the start Rainey were well up for this and pressurised our line for much of the first twenty minutes with a flurry of tapped penalties pinning the Bruff defence back time after time. They were unlucky indeed not to be the first team to breach the Bruff Try-line since round one of the League when Derry put up the one and only try against Bruff in the AIL to date. A fantastic run by the Rainey winger on the left hand side was nipped eventually by Finbarr “Braq” Hogan who caught him about 5 metres from the line. Davy Horan Stole the ball in the resulting ruck and the panic was averted. Following this period of defending the Bruff attack finally came to the fore with the ball being flashed wide to Braq and Mikey Carroll on the right wing and after a couple of bobbles Mikey eventually got control of the ball and scored Bruff’s First Try in the corner.

At this stage Bruff Started to dominate proceedings a small bit and Martin O’ Rourke collected a line-out ball, Mauled towards the line and eventually surfaced to touch down for try No. 2 to give Bruff a half time lead of Ten-Nil.

Second half started with no sign of the strong cross-field breeze abating and it took fifteen minutes before a turnover in the middle of the field allowed Brian Cahill away, with Garry “Badger” Leonard drawing the Full back and putting Braq in in the corner. Brian Cahill converted to give Bruff the 17-nil lead.

At this stage things were really looking ominous for the Rainey Boys but it took a further fifteen minutes before Bruff captain Cathal O’ Regan broke from about twenty yards to dive over for Bruff’s Fourth Try (which is already known as “THE FLYING PIG TRY” following the attempt by Cathal to emulate a Justin Marshal pirouette in mid-air before touch down.) Bonus point for Bruff and Brian adding the Extras to make it twenty four. Cathal is making his way up the leader board try-wise at this stage.
Icing on the cake came three minutes later with Martin O’ Rourke taking a crash ball swung from a ruck about two metres out and Brian again adding the extras.

Overall a great performance in stormy conditions, the lads have definitely lost their “Fair Weather Team” tag after the last couple of performances. Highest Points for and lowest points against of all 48 AIL Teams at this stage of the league.

League Tables HERE.